Have you ever been lost? Couldn't find your way somewhere, or got somewhere and couldn't find your way back home? I have! Last summer, Bob, David, Julie and I took an afternoon drive into Arkansas. We were just going to drive down to a town that Bob had heard of, to see about selling some lumber there.
Everything went pretty well until we got within 30 miles of our destination, then we couldn't find the way to there from here. We drove around a good hour, trying to find the right road. Finally, after we stopped and got directions we started in the right direction. But then the road forked a couple of times and we were lost again. We stopped again for directions, and got a different point of view on which way to go, so we started off in that direction.
I don't know if they were trying to be rude to us out-of-staters (surely not!) or maybe they gave us the shortest route to get there, but we traveled over twenty miles of the most crooked, narrow roads I have ever been on, and I think I've seen a few crooked, narrow roads!
This road wound over some of the highest hills around, so high they would almost qualify as mountains. The view from on top was beautiful, overlooking the White River, and Norfork Lake and we could see for miles and miles.
Once we got to where we were going, it was a nice little town. We ate lunch and started back home. We stopped a couple more times for directions back, and went back on a much better road than the one we had traveled to get there.
Another time when Bob was cutting cedar over in the Thornfield area, he took us to see where he had been working. When we left he decided to go back a different way than we had come, and pretty soon I had no idea where we were. We drove for miles on dirt roads, and I saw places I had never seen before. Bob knew exactly where we were but I was lost. Finally we came out to blacktop and I recognized where we were.
I've done my share of losing my way too. When Alicia was about 13 years old, one of her friends moved to Springfield. They decided they wanted to spend a few days together so we arranged to meet at her mother's workplace and she would come home with us for a few days. Alicia got the directions from her over the phone and off we went to pick her up.
We drove around and around in the general area of where we were supposed to pick her up, but we could not find the corner of "Bonzille and Lauter" streets anywhere. I went into two or three convenience stores, asking if anybody knew where this corner was. Nobody had ever heard of it. We didn't even have the name or number of her mother's workplace, so we couldn't call and find the right address, and the little car we had at the time was overheating so we finally gave up and came home.
When Alicia called her friend at home that night, we found out why we couldn't find the corner of "Bonzille and Lauter". The correct streets were "Boonville and Water"! Now, did I feel stupid! I hadn't been around Springfield much at that time, but I thought surely even I could have figured that one out! Even though I knew they couldn't see me, my face was burning with embarrassment when I thought of the places I had stopped and asked for "phony" directions! What they must have thought!
Now this may sound weird, but I kinda like to get lost! We always have a good time just driving around, laughing at ourselves for being lost and we do a lot of sight-seeing along the way. Also, I know we can't be TOO lost, we can always find our way back, even if we DO have to stop for directions once-in-a-while.
Of course, we DO have a better time if there is beautiful scenery to look at, instead of a hot, un-air-conditioned, overheating car! Also, if I thought we were lost, with an empty gas tank or a flat tire, or in a bad neighborhood where I couldn't stop for directions without fearing for my life, I would be very scared and unhappy.
I've been lost in my life, too. As my grandson Hayden sings, "I once got lost, and now I'm found" I was lost, living without God in my life. I was just going along on my own, not knowing where I was going to end up.
When we live like this, it's like driving somewhere and getting lost, with nowhere you can stop to ask for directions. And if you rely on the advice and direction of the world on how to live your life, I think you can end up worse off than before. If you're not sure of where you're going, it's difficult to get there without some help or guidance.
We have someone, our Heavenly Father, who will guide us every day of our life, if we will just ask for that guidance and be willing to follow it. We have a book, the Bible, that will show us all the directions we need for a happy and useful life. God has supplied these directions for us to go by, so that we can have a better life.
When we get lost or distracted from the right way, all we have to do is ask God to help us find our way, and then be faithful to follow His instructions. He will never tell us the wrong way to go. In 2 Peter 3:9, the Bible tells us that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
If we will just follow the guidance and direction of the Lord, we are assured of being on the right road, the road that finally leads us Home.
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